System and method for controlling jobsite products

ABSTRACT

An electronic device with a microphone, a speaker, a processor, and a power tool battery pack connectable to and powering the speaker and the processor. The electronic device has software that can cause the processor to perform operations which can cause the electronic device to operate in first and second modes. While the electronic device is operating in the first mode, the device can generate first audio data representing user speech captured by the microphone which can be analyzed by the electronic device or a remote server. The electronic device can switch from operating in the first mode to operating in a second mode, where the electronic device can receive, second audio data from another electronic device. The electronic device can then output, using the speaker, audible content represented by the second audio data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application derives priority from U.S. Patent Application No.62/700,476, filed on Jul. 19, 2018, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORCONTROLLING JOBSITE PRODUCTS,” and fully incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to computer data network systems, in whichdifferent products, including power tools and other construction jobsiteproducts, are connected by means of wireless signal transmissions fortracking and/or controlling thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Location systems are used for locating, and preferably tracking,articles. Location systems are used in a wide range of environments,including hospitals and other healthcare situations, social careenvironments, prisons, industrial locations, warehouses, retail stores,educational institutions, offices and logistics environments, forexample. Such systems are used for locating and tracking patients(especially babies and the elderly) and other categories of people, andfor locating and tracking medical supplies, equipment, products, toolsand other categories of articles.

Such location systems have not been implemented in construction jobsitesdue to the lack of network infrastructure, the lack of durable networkcomponents, and the inability to provide a temporary network that iseasily assembled at the beginning or the construction project anddisassembled after the construction project has been completed. Suchlocation system is described in U.S. Patent Application Ser. No.62/370,292, filed on Aug. 3, 2016, entitled “CONSTRUCTION JOBSITECOMPUTER DATA NETWORK AND LOCATION SYSTEM,” and PCT Application No.PCT/US2017/045222, filed on Aug. 3, 2017, entitled “CONSTRUCTION JOBSITECOMPUTER DATA NETWORK AND LOCATION SYSTEM,” which are hereby fullyincorporated by reference.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way ofexample, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a computer network;

FIG. 2 shows an example of a portable music device that implements aspeech interface;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the example portable music devicebeing used with the support of a speech support service server; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of different exemplary process that can beperformed by the system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a computer network 100 for a construction jobsite.The computer network 100 preferably includes a local router or server101 disposed in the construction jobsite connected to the internet 102.Persons skilled in the art will recognize that local server 101 ispreferably connected to the internet 102 via at least one of thefollowing connections: digital subscriber lines (DSL), asymmetricdigital subscriber lines (ADSL), symmetric digital subscriber lines(SDSL), very high digital subscriber lines (VDSL), cable-broadbandinternet connection, wireless broadband connection, T-1 lines, bondedT-1 lines, T-3 lines, optical carrier lines (OC3), internet oversatellite (IoS), etc.

Computer network 100 may also include network access transceivers 104.Transceivers 104 may be connectable to the local server 101 via a wiredconnection, such as an Ethernet network, and/or one or more of a varietyof wireless technologies, including: wireless local area network (WLAN)technologies; wireless personal area network (WPAN) technologies(including low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN)technologies); radio frequency identification (RFID); ultra-wideband(UWB); ultrasound; sound; infrared; visible light; camera vision, etc.Included in WLAN technologies are those conforming to the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series of standards(e.g. Wi-Fi™). Included in WPAN and LR-WPAN technologies are thoseconforming to the IEEE 802.15 series of standards (e.g. Bluetooth™,ZigBee™, etc.).

Such different wireless communication circuits allow transceiver 104 tocommunicate with different devices, such as computer 300, personalcomputing devices (such as tablets or smartphones 111), and tags 107disposed in or attached to an asset, such as a power tool 108, awearable item 109 (such as a vest or helmet) worn by a worker, and/or aconstruction material 110 (such as boards, pipes, slabs, etc.), etc.Persons skilled in the art will recognize that power tool 108, a batterypack 108B attached to the power tool 108, wearable item 109 and/or theconstruction material 110 may have a communication circuit 107C disposedwithin, which would interacting with transceiver 104 in the same manneras tag 107, while preferably providing further features and advantagesas described in US Patent Publication No. 2014/0107853, entitled “SYSTEMFOR ENHANCING POWER TOOLS,” which is hereby fully incorporated byreference. Communication circuits 107C may allow communicationtherebetween, for example, between battery pack 108B and the power tool108 the battery pack 108B is powering, with another power tool 108 thatthe battery pack 108B is not connected to.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that smartphones 111,communication circuits 107C and tags 107 may use more than onecommunication protocol to communicate with transceiver 104. For examplesmartphone 111 may communicate with transceiver 104 via a Bluetoothcircuit and a WLAN/Wi-Fi circuit, etc. Similarly, communication circuit107C and/or tag 107 may communicate with transceiver 104 via a Bluetoothcircuit and WLAN/Wi-Fi circuit, etc. Persons skilled in the art arereferred to U.S. Pat. No. 9,357,348, which is hereby fully incorporatedby reference, for further information on the functionality andcomponents of tag 107.

With such arrangement, information can be passed along between tags 107,power tool 108, battery pack 108B, wearable item 109 and/or theconstruction material 110 to a central server 103, which is connected tothe internet 102.

Computer network 100 may also include a portable music device 112. Themusic device 112 comprises a housing 114 that supports at least onemicrophone 116, one or more speakers 118, and a talk button 120. Thetalk button 120 may also be referred to as a talk actuator or apush-to-talk (PTT) button.

The portable music device 112 may be connectable to the internet 102 viaa wired connection, such as an Ethernet network connected to via anEthernet circuit 325 and/or one or more of a variety of wirelesstechnologies, including: wireless local area network (WLAN)technologies; wireless personal area network (WPAN) technologies(including low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN)technologies); radio frequency identification (RFID); ultra-wideband(UWB); ultrasound; sound; infrared; visible light; camera vision, etc.Included in WLAN technologies are those conforming to the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series of standards(e.g. Wi-Fi™). Included in WPAN and LR-WPAN technologies are thoseconforming to the IEEE 802.15 series of standards (e.g. Bluetooth™,ZigBee™, etc.).

The music device 112 may be designed and configured to rest horizontallyon a surface, with the speakers 118 preferably facing a user. Inaddition, the device 112 may be designed for handheld use during which auser holds the device 112 and speaks into the microphone 116 whilepressing the talk button 120. The music device 112 may be configured sothat the talk button 120 is easily accessed by a user's thumb whenholding the music device 112 near the user's mouth.

The microphone 116 may be selected and/or designed for sensitivity toaudio so as to capture user speech. The microphone 106 generates anaudio signal that contains the user speech. Persons skilled in the artshall recognize that microphone 116 may be selected for sensitivity tonear-filed audio and/or far-field audio according to the expected usesof portable music device 112.

The portable music device 112 may be powered by a rechargeable internalbattery 318 (FIG. 2 ) for cordless operation. The device 112 may havecontacts or ports 122 that can receive external power by means of acharging dock or cradle in order to charge the internal battery and/orto operate from household power mains. Information on such charging dockmay found in U.S. Pat. No. 9,865,259, which is hereby fully incorporatedby reference. Portable music device 112 may also be powered by a batterypack 108B removably connected to portable music device 112 and/orexternal AC power.

The device 112 may have knobs, buttons 112K or other controls inaddition to the talk button 110, such as a power button, volume buttons,play control buttons, etc. In some cases, the music device 112 may haveLEDs or lights 112L and/or a graphics display 112D for presentation ofinformation to the user. Display 112D may include a touch screen input112T. Persons skilled in the art shall recognize that a touch screeninput 112T may be provided in addition to the touch screen input ofdisplay 112D and/or adjacent to display 112T.

The portable music device 112 is configured to capture and respond touser speech. Specifically, the user may verbally request particularmusic to be played by the portable music device 112. The portable musicdevice 112 responds to the request by playing the music on the speakers118. In certain situations, the user may need to press the talk button120 when speaking a request.

In other cases, the user may indicate a request by prefacing the requestwith a predefined keyword, which is also referred to herein as awakeword or trigger expression. More specifically, the music device 112may rely on the talk button to detect spoken user requests when themusic device 112 is operating from battery power and may enable wakeworddetection only when the music device 112 is receiving external AC power.Disabling wakeword detection when operating on battery power reducescomputational activities and power consumption, thereby increasingbattery life.

The portable music device 112 may be supported by network-based servicessuch as speech support services that perform automatic speechrecognition (ASR) and natural language understanding (NLU) on audiocaptured by the microphone 116 and that provide instructions to theportable music device 112 in response to recognized speech. This allowsrelatively sophisticated audio and speech processing to be performeddespite limited processing capabilities of the portable music device 112itself.

The portable music device 112 may have at least limited speechrecognition capabilities. Such speech recognition capabilities arepreferably activated and utilized when the portable music device 112 isreceiving external power. In various embodiments, different levels ofspeech support may be provided by the device 112 when receiving externalpower, such as ASR, NLU, and speech synthesis. Performing thesefunctions locally avoids delays and latencies that may otherwise beintroduced by interacting with network-based services.

The portable music device 112 may be configured to operate in multipleplayback modes to play audio content such as music and in some cases toalso control the playing of audio content by peripheral devices. In oneplayback mode, the portable music device 112 acts as a peripheralspeaker for a personal computing device such as a smartphone 111, tabletcomputer, or other device that may be configured to act as a personalmedia storage device.

In this mode, referred to as a peripheral mode, the device 112preferably receives an audio stream over a device-to-device wirelessconnection such as a Bluetooth® connection and passively plays thereceived audio stream on the speakers 118. The audio stream may containmusic or other audio content that has been selected through a userinterface of the personal media device, apart from the speech interfaceof the portable music device 112.

In another playback mode, referred to herein as a voice control mode,the portable music device 112 preferably implements a speech interfacethrough which the user selects and plays music by speaking commands tothe device 112. In some embodiments, the voice control mode is used onlyduring those times during which the device 112 has Internetconnectivity, preferably broadband Internet connectivity. During othertimes, the portable music device operates in the peripheral mode.

When operating in the voice control mode, the user may speak a verbalcommand into the microphone 116 while or after actuating the talk button120. The user speech is analyzed and interpreted to identify particularmusic or other audio content that the user wants to play. The identifiedcontent is then obtained and/or played by the device 112. During timeswhen the portable music device 112 is receiving external power, the usermay preface a verbal command with a wakeword and may not need to pressthe talk button 120. (Alternatively, users may program portable musicdevice 112 to require activation of talk button 120 during certaintimes, while allowing activation with a wakeword at other certaintimes.)

By default, content identified in this manner is played on the speakers118 of the device 112. However, the device 112 may also be configured toprovide the content to available peripheral devices such as Bluetoothspeakers or other speaker peripherals that are nearby.

As seen in FIGS. 1-2 , a network-accessible speech support serviceserver 302 may be implemented as a network-based or cloud-based servicethat is located remotely or external to the portable music device 112.For example, the speech support service server 302 may be implemented bya business organization and/or service provider to support multiplemusic devices 112 that are located in different user premises, which inturn may be located in widely varying geographic locations.

The speech support service server 302 may in some instances be part of anetwork-accessible computing platform that is maintained and accessiblevia a wide-area network 102 such as the Internet. Network-accessiblecomputing platforms such as this may be referred to using terms such as“on-demand computing”, “software as a service (SaaS)”, “platformcomputing”, “network-accessible platform”, “cloud services”, “datacenters”, and so forth.

Communications between the music device 112 and the speech supportservice server 302 may be implemented through one or more datacommunication networks, including local-area networks, wide-areanetworks, and/or the public Internet. Cellular and/or other wirelessdata communications technologies may also be used to communicate withthe speech support service server 302. User premises may include localnetwork support equipment to facilitate communications with the speechsupport service server 302, such as wireless access points, networkrouters, communication hubs, etc.

In operation, the portable music device 112 preferably provides an audiosignal 306 to the speech support service server 302 in response to auser of the device 112 pressing the talk button 120. The speech supportservice server 302 analyzes the audio signal 306 to detect user speech,to determine the meaning of the user speech, and to provide a responsesignal 308 that contains or indicates an appropriate response to themeaning of the user speech. The response signal 308 may indicate actionsor functions that the portable music device 112 is to perform.Alternatively, or in addition, the response signal 308 may comprise anaudio signal containing audio that is to be rendered by the portablemusic device 112. For example, the audio may comprise generated speechor requested audio content such as music.

The portable music device 112 has operational logic, which in theillustrated example comprises a processor 310 and associated memory 312.The processor 310 may include multiple processors and/or a processorhaving multiple cores. The processor 310 may comprise processorextensions, co-processors, digital signal processors, codecs, and soforth.

The memory 312 may contain applications and programs in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions that are executed by the processor 310to perform acts or actions that implement desired functionality of thedevice 112, including the functionality described herein. The memory 312may be a type of computer storage media and may include volatile andnonvolatile memory. The memory 312 may include, but is not limited to,RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, or other memory technology.

FIG. 2 shows examples of applications and/or programs that may beprovided by the device 112 and stored by the memory 312 to implementfunctionality of the device 112, although many other applications andtypes of functionality may be provided in various embodiments. Forexample, the portable music device 112 may have an operating system 314that is configured to manage hardware and services within and coupled tothe device 112 and to implement the general functionality of the device112 as described herein. In some embodiments, the memory 312 may alsocontain programs or applications that implement local speech services316, which may be used at times, especially during times when the device112 is connected to an external power source. The nature and use of thelocal speech services 316 will be explained in more detail below.

The device 112 has a charging circuit 320 that receives electrical powerfrom an external source such as a power mains, an AC-to-DC converterconnected to the power mains, or an external DC source. The chargingcircuit 320 is configured to charge the rechargeable battery 318 and/orbattery pack 108B when the device 112 receives external power.

The portable music device 112 may also have a power detector 322 thatdetects when the device 112 is receiving external electrical powerand/or when the device 112 is charging the rechargeable battery 318and/or battery pack 108B. The power detector 322 may be configured toproduce a signal to indicate that the portable music device 112 isreceiving external power and is charging the rechargeable battery 318and/or battery pack 108B.

Such signal can be used to automatically select which power source shallbe used to power music device 112. For example, such signal can be usedto trigger a switch, transistor or relay to select the DC power frombattery pack 108B instead of the external AC power, or vice versa.Persons skilled in the art shall recognize that relays can be used toautomatically switch between the DC power from battery pack 108B and theexternal AC power, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,199,858, which isfully incorporated by reference. Such switches, transistors and/orrelays can be part of power supply circuit 319. Diodes may also be usedin the power path from the battery pack 108B and/or external AC power,to ensure the highest voltage from either input is the one provided topower music device 112.

At least one additional AC outlet 321 may be connected to power supplycircuit 319 to provide AC power to other devices. Such AC outlet(s) 321may be controllable by voice command. In other words, the user mayactivate or disactivate at least one of the AC outlet(s) 321 by voicecommand, as further explained below.

The portable music device 112 may have a device-to-device wirelesscommunications interface, which in the illustrated embodiment comprisesa Bluetooth® personal-area-networking (PAN) interface 324. The Bluetoothinterface 324 may be used by the portable music device 112 tocommunicate with local devices such as smartphones 111, personal mediadevices, and other content sources or audio peripherals.

The portable music device 112 may also have a wireless wide-area network(WAN) communications interface such as a WiFi® interface 326. The WiFiinterface 326 may be configured to communicate over the wide-areanetwork 102 with the speech support service server 302. Persons skilledin the art shall recognize that Wifi interface 326 may enable musicdevice 112 to function as a Wifi router/hotspot.

More generally, the portable music device 112 and/or the speech supportservice server 302 may communicatively couple to the wide-area network102 via radio frequency (RF) networks, such as mobile telephone/cellularnetworks, accessed through a cellular communication circuit 327,satellite communication circuit (not shown), Bluetooth® interface 324,Wi-Fi interface 326, or other connection technologies. The network 102is representative of any type of communication network, including dataand/or voice network, and may be implemented using wired infrastructure(e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, etc.), a wirelessinfrastructure (e.g., RF, cellular, microwave, satellite, Bluetooth®,Wi-Fi, etc.), and/or other connection technologies.

Persons skilled in the art shall recognize that cellular data networkcommunication circuit 327 can connect portable music device 112 to acellular data network, and upload data to a cloud service or centralserver 103. Cellular data network communication circuit 327 may include,but is not limited to Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), TimeDivision Multiple Access (TDMA), or other wireless technologies, viaPacket Cellular Network (PCN), Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM), Generic Packet Radio Services (GPRS), network/PersonalCommunications Services network (PCS), a Cellular Digital Packet Data(CDPD), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other wireless interfaces.

The speech support service server 302 preferably comprises operationalor control logic, which may comprise one or more servers, computers,and/or processors 328 and associated memory 330 containing applicationsand programs in the form of instructions that are executed by theservers, computers, or processors 328 to perform acts or actions thatimplement desired functionality of the speech support service server302, including the functionality specifically described herein. Thememory 330 may be a type of computer storage media and may includevolatile and nonvolatile memory. Thus, the memory 330 may include, butis not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, or other memorytechnology. In certain implementations, the speech support serviceserver 302 may comprise a plurality of servers configured to support andcommunicate with multiple portable music devices 102 over the Internet.

The speech support service server 302 may have an operating system 332that is configured to manage components and services of the speechsupport service server 302. Among other software components that are notshown, the speech support service server 302 may include an automaticspeech recognition (ASR) service 334 that recognizes human speech in anaudio signal provided by the portable music device 112 from themicrophone 106. Software of the speech support service server 302 mayalso include a natural language understanding (NLU) service 336 thatdetermines user intent based on user speech that is recognized by theASR service 334.

The ASR service 334 may use various techniques to create a transcript ofspoken words represented in an input audio signal. For example, the ASRservice 334 may reference various types of models, such as acousticmodels and language models, to recognize words of speech that arerepresented in an audio signal. In some cases, models such as these arecreated by training, such as by sampling and manually classifying manydifferent types of speech.

An acoustic model may represent speech as a series of vectorscorresponding to features of an audio waveform over time. The featuresmay correspond to frequency, pitch, amplitude, and time patterns.Statistical models such as Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and Gaussianmixture models may be created based on large sets of training data.Models of received speech are then compared to models of the trainingdata to find matches.

Language models describe things such as grammatical rules, common wordusages and patterns, dictionary meanings, and so forth, to establishprobabilities of word sequences and combinations. Analysis of speechusing language models may be dependent on context, such as the wordsthat come before or after any part of the speech that is currently beinganalyzed.

ASR may provide recognition candidates, which may comprise words,phrases, sentences, or other segments of speech. The candidates may beaccompanied by statistical probabilities, each of which indicates a“confidence” in the accuracy of the corresponding candidate. Typically,the candidate with the highest confidence score is selected as theoutput of the speech recognition.

The NLU service 336 analyzes a word stream provided by the ASR service334 and produces a representation of a meaning of the word stream. Forexample, the NLU service 336 may use a parser and associated grammarrules to analyze a sentence and to produce a representation of a meaningof the sentence in a formally defined language that conveys concepts ina way that is easily processed by a computer. For example, the meaningmay be semantically represented as a hierarchical set or frame of slotsand slot values, where each slot corresponds to a semantically definedconcept. Thus, the meaning of the sentence may be semanticallyrepresented by the frame of slots and slot values. NLU may also usestatistical models and patterns generated from training data to leveragestatistical dependencies between words in typical speech.

Software elements of the speech support service server 302 may furthercomprise a speech generation service 338 that synthesizes or otherwiseproduces speech audio. For example, the speech generation service 338may comprise a text-to-speech (TTS) component that produces speech fromtext to produce speech messages to be played at the portable musicdevice 112.

Software of the speech support service server 302 may also comprise acommand interpreter and action dispatcher 340 (referred to herein simplyas a command interpreter 340) that determines functions or commandscorresponding to user intents. In some cases, commands may correspond tofunctions that are to be performed at least in part by the portablemusic device 112, and the command interpreter 340 may in those casesprovide commands to the portable music device 112 for implementing suchfunctions. Examples of commands or functions that may be performed bythe portable music device 112 in response to directives from the commandinterpreter 340 include playing music or other media,increasing/decreasing the volume of the speakers 108, generating audiblespeech through the speakers 108, and so forth.

The speech support service server may also comprise a network interface342 configured to communicate with the portable music device 112 overthe wide-area network 102.

In some cases the speech support service server 302 may conduct dialogswith a user of the portable music device 112 to determine the intent ofa user. Generally, a speech dialog comprises a sequence of speechquestions, answers, and/or statements pertaining to a particular actionor intent of the user. More specifically, a speech dialog may comprise aseries of speech expressions that may include utterances by the user andspeech messages generated by the speech support service server 302. Aspeech dialog, for example, may begin upon an initial user utterance.The speech support service server 302 may respond with a speech message,such as “what do you want to do?” The user may respond by making astatement in answer to the question. This process may iterate until thespeech support service server 302 is able to determine a specific actionto take or function to invoke. In the implementation of FIG. 3 , thespeech expressions are conveyed as audio signals between the portablemusic device 112 and the speech support service server 302.

In embodiments described herein, the portable music device 112 isdesigned to play music in response to commands spoken by a user. Forexample, the user might press the talk button 110 and state “Play musicby the Beatles.” The user utterance is provided as an audio stream 306to the speech support service server 302, which performs speechrecognition and natural language understanding to determine the meaningof the user utterance. In response to the user utterance, the speechsupport service server 302 instructs the portable music device 112 toplay music by the Beatles. In some cases, as mentioned above, the speechsupport service server 302 may conduct a two-directional speech dialogwith the user to further refine the intent of the user, such as todetermine a specific track that the user wants to hear. Upon fullydefining the user intent, the speech support service server 302instructs the portable music device 112 to play the desired track. Inresponse to being instructed to play a particular audio selection, theportable music device 112 obtains the audio selection from a designatedsource, which may include network-accessible music services, local mediastorage, local music peripherals, etc. Alternatively, the speech supportservice server 302 may provide the audio selection as an audio stream tothe portable music device 112.

In certain embodiments, the portable music device 112 may be configuredto activate and utilize its own speech services 316 rather than thespeech services of the speech support service server 302. In particular,the portable music device 112 may be configured to detect situations inwhich it is receiving external electrical power and may utilize one ormore of its local speech services 316 in these situations. For example,speech services 316 may be used when music device 112 cannot access thespeech support service server 302.

Speech services 316 may also be used for wakeword detection. Inparticular, the local speech services 316 may include a wakeworddetection component 344. The wakeword detection component 344 maycomprise a keyword detector that is configured to continuously monitorand audio signal from the microphone 106 to detect user utterances of apreselected keyword or wakeword, which is more generally referred toherein as a trigger expression. The trigger expression may comprise akeyword, a wakeword, an expression, a phrase, or some other sound orutterance that has been designated as indicating an intent by the userto direct speech to the portable music device 112. Such wakeword mayinclude a power tool or hand tool brand such as “Stanley,” “Black &Decker,” “DeWalt,” “Porter-Cable,” “Craftsman,” “Irwin,” “Milwaukee,”“Ridgid,” “Makita,” “Hitachi,” “Metabo,” “Bosch,” “Skil,” “SkilSaw,”“Husky,” “Kobalt,” “Ryobi,” “Fein,” “Stihl,” “Husqvarna,” etc.

The wakeword detection component 344 may be implemented using keywordspotting technology. A keyword spotter is a functional component oralgorithm that evaluates an audio signal to detect the presence apredefined word or expression in the audio signal. Generally, a keywordspotter uses simplified ASR techniques to detect a specific word or alimited number of words rather than attempting to recognize a largevocabulary. For example, a keyword spotter may provide a notificationwhen a specified word is detected in an audio signal, rather thanproviding a textual or word-based output. A keyword spotter using thesetechniques may compare different words based on hidden Markov models(HMMs), which represent words as series of states. Generally, anutterance is analyzed by comparing its model to a keyword model and to abackground model. Comparing the model of the utterance with the keywordmodel yields a score that represents the likelihood that the utterancecorresponds to the keyword. Comparing the model of the utterance withthe background model yields a score that represents the likelihood thatthe utterance corresponds to a generic word other than the keyword. Thetwo scores can be compared to determine whether the keyword was uttered.Such background model may be user specific, allowing portable musicdevice 112 to identify the user speaking to music device 112 bycomparing the model of the utterance to multiple background models withdifferent users and matching the model to a background model. Onceportable music device 112 has identified the user, music device 112 canallow different functionalities for such user. For example the user maybe allowed to use some features or execute some actions but not others,according to the privileges granted to such user.

In certain embodiments, audio may be streamed to the speech supportservice server 302 in response to either the talk button 120 beingactivated or in response to detection of the wakeword. In response toreceiving the audio, the speech support service server 302 performs ASRand NLU to determine the meaning of the user speech and to determine anappropriate response.

In some embodiments, local wakeword detection may be used only when theportable music device 112 is connected to and receiving external ACpower. When using wakeword detection, audio that is subsequent in timeto the utterance of the wakeword is provided to the speech supportservice server 302. During times in which the portable music device 112is operating from its internal rechargeable battery 318 and/or batterypack 108B, without connection to external power, wakeword detection maybe disabled and audio is provided to the speech support service server302 only during times when (or after) the talk button 120 is pressed.Disabling the wakeword detection when operating from battery powerreduces the computational load of the processor 310 and thereby reducespower consumption of the portable music device 112.

In some embodiments, the speech services 316 may also include ASRfunctionality 346. In some embodiments, the speech services 316 may alsoinclude NLU functionality 348. When these functionalities are present,they may be used in place of the corresponding functionalities providedby the speech support service server 302 during times when the portablemusic device 112 is receiving external power and/or when music device112 does not have access to the speech support service server 302 (forexample, if access to wide-area network 102 is unavailable). Thus,rather than sending the audio signal 306 to the speech support serviceserver 302, the portable music device 112 may perform ASR and/or NLUinternally and may respond to user speech based on the internal or localanalysis of captured audio. During times when the portable music device112 is not connected to external power, audio may be sent to the speechsupport service server 302 for speech analysis, thereby reducing powerconsumption of the portable music device 112. The local ASRfunctionality 346 and NLU functionality 348 may use techniques similarto those used by the ASR service 334 and the NLU service 336 of thespeech support service server 302.

In addition to wakeword detection, ASR, and NLU, the portable musicdevice 112 may have other capabilities that are enabled only duringthose times when the portable music device 112 is receiving external ACpower. Limiting usage of these capabilities to these times allows theportable music device 112 to conserve power and to prolong battery life.

FIG. 3 shows an example method 400 that may be implemented by theportable music device 112 to interact with a user for playing audiocontent or performing other activities in response to spoken usercommands. An action 402 detecting which of multiple power states themusic device 112 is in. In the described implementation, there are twopossible power states. The first power state comprises the state inwhich the music device 112 is operating solely from battery power and isnot receiving external AC electrical power. The second power statecomprises the state in which the music device 112 is receivingelectrical power from an AC source external to the music device 112,other than the internal battery 318 of the music device 112.Accordingly, the action 402, which may be performed by the powerdetector 322, comprises detecting whether the music device 112 is in thefirst power state or the second power state. Detecting that the musicdevice 112 is in the first power state comprises determining that poweris not being received from an external AC power source. Detecting thatthe music device 112 is in the second power state comprises determiningthat power is being received from an external AC power source.

Alternatively, detecting that the music device 112 is in the first powerstate comprises determining that power is not being received from anexternal AC power source or from battery pack 108B. Similarly, detectingthat the music device 112 is in the second power state comprisesdetermining that power is being received from an external AC powersource or from battery pack 108B.

In other embodiments, the power states may correspond to differentconditions. For example, the first power state may correspond to acondition in which the battery pack 108B and/or internal battery 318 ofthe music device 112 has a charge level that is below a selectedthreshold. For example, the first power state may correspond to thebattery pack 108B and/or internal battery 318 having a charge levelbelow 10%. The second power state may correspond to a condition in whichthe battery pack 108B and/or internal battery 318 of the music device112 has a charge level that is above the selected threshold. Forexample, the second power state may correspond to the battery pack 108Band/or battery 318 having a charge level above 10%.

The music device 112 operates in a first user interaction mode inresponse to detecting that the music device 112 is operating in thefirst power state. The music device 112 operates in a second userinteraction mode in response to detecting that the music device 112 isin the second power state. A path along the left side of FIG. 3 isfollowed to implement the first user interaction mode. A path along theright side of FIG. 3 is followed to implement the second userinteraction mode.

Operating in the first user interaction mode comprises the actions shownon the left side of FIG. 3 . An action 404 comprises detecting actuationof the talk button 120. In response to actuation of the talk button 120,an action 406 is performed of receiving first speech input andgenerating first microphone audio data corresponding to the first speechinput, using the microphone 116 of the music device 112. In operation,the user will speak while or after pressing the talk button 120, and thefirst microphone audio signal will therefore contain first user speechinput that corresponds to a spoken user command. In some cases, thecommand may specify music that is to be played by the music device 112.

An action 408 comprises sending the first microphone audio data to thespeech support service server 302 for analysis, which may include ASRand NLU. For example, the speech support service server 302 may performASR and NLU to identify a song that the user has requested to be playedby the music device 112. The first microphone audio data may be sent asa digital audio stream over the wide-area network 102 using the WiFiinterface 326 of the music device.

An action 410 comprises receiving an indication from the speech supportservice server 302 of an action to be performed in response to thespoken user command. In some cases, the action 410 may comprise or mayinclude receiving audio data corresponding to or representing the songthat the user has requested to be played by the music device 112. Forexample, the music device 112 may communicate over the wide-area network102 with a music service using the WiFi interface 326 to receive anaudio signal from the music service, where the audio signal contains thesong.

An action 412 comprises implementing the action indicated by the speechsupport service, such as by playing the song that has been identifiedbased on the spoken user command. The song may be played using thespeakers 108 of the music device 112.

Operating in the second user interaction mode comprises the actionsshown on the right side of FIG. 3 . An action 414 comprises detecting auser utterance of a trigger expression. For example, the music devicemay receive second speech input and may generate audio data representingor corresponding to the second user speech input. The wakeword detectioncomponent 344 may monitor the audio data to detect the user utterance ofthe trigger expression.

In response to detection of the user utterance of the triggerexpression, an action 416 is performed of receiving third speech inputand may generate audio data representing or corresponding to the thirdspeech input. In use, the user will continue to speak after uttering thetrigger expression, and the third audio data will therefore contain userspeech input that corresponds to a second spoken user command. In somecases, the second command may specify another song that is to be playedby the music device 112.

An action 418 may comprise causing the third audio data to be analyzedto recognize the third user speech and to determine a meaning or intentof the third user speech. In some cases, this may include identifyingthe song that the user has requested to be played.

In some implementations, causing the third audio data to be analyzed maycomprise sending the third audio data to the speech support serviceserver 302 over the wide-area network 102 using the WiFi interface 326for analysis of the third audio data by the speech support serviceserver 302. In other cases, causing the third audio data to be analyzedmay comprise recognizing the user command using speech recognitionand/or natural language understanding capabilities of the music device112 itself.

An action 420 may comprise determining and implementing an action inresponse to the second user command. In some cases, the action 418 maycomprise playing music or a song specified by the second user command.In some cases, the action 418 may comprise receiving audio data from amusic service, where the audio data contains the music or song specifiedby the user command, and may additionally comprise rendering the audiosignal to play the music.

In some cases, the portable music device 112 may have a radio-frequency(RF) tuner circuit 117 in order to receive terrestrial, over-the-airbroadcasts. Such broadcasts may include AM, FM, digital audio broadcasts(DAB) and/or weather band broadcasts. The portable music device 112 mayin some cases receive content from other sources such as cable broadcastsystems.

The portable music device 112 may also have an auxiliary input 119and/or a USB port 323 to receive audio signals from another audiosource. Persons skilled in the art will recognize the USB port 323 maybe connected to a power supply circuit 319 which receives power from theexternal AC power or the battery pack 108B and converts it to a 5 voltoutput as called for in the USB specification.

Persons skilled in the art shall recognize that the portable musicdevice 112 and/or the speech support service server 302 may beconfigured to interact according to a web services model. Generally, aweb service may comprise any type of computing service that is madeavailable to a requesting client via a request interface that includesone or more Internet-based application layer data transport protocols,such as a version of the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) or anothersuitable protocol.

The Bluetooth interface 324 of the portable music device 112 may be usedby the portable music device 112 to communicate with the tags 107, powertool 108, battery pack 108B, wearable item 109 and/or the constructionmaterial 110. The Bluetooth interface 324 may be used to communicatecommands, status, and other information between the portable musicdevice 112 and at least one (if not all) of the tags 107, power tool108, battery pack 108B, wearable item 109 and/or the constructionmaterial 110. The Bluetooth interface 324 may be used to receiveinformation from the tags 107, power tool 108, battery pack 108B,wearable item 109 and/or the construction material 110. Portable musicdevice 112 can then communicate such information to cloud service orcentral server 103.

With such arrangement, the portable music device 112 can query, transmitand/or receive information to/from a computer 300, smartphone 111, tags107, power tool 108, battery pack 108B, wearable item 109 and/orconstruction material 110. For example, portable music device 112 canreceive data from tags 107 and store such data in the central server103. (Persons skilled in the art shall recognize that the frequency inwhich portable music device 112 may upload such data to the centralserver 103 may be dependent upon whether portable music device 112 isbeing powered by AC power or battery pack 108B, and/or upon the chargelevel of battery pack 108B. Accordingly, portable music device 112 mayupload the data more frequently when portable music device 112 is beingpowered by AC power and less frequently if the charge level of batterypack 108B is low.) Alternatively, portable music device 112 can receiveinstructions from computer 300, central server 103 and/or smartphone 111to change a parameter of power tool 108 and/or battery pack 108B.Portable music device 112 would wireless communicate with power tool 108and/or battery pack 108B, exchange data as necessary and cause aprocessor in power tool 108 and/or battery pack 108B to change thedesired parameter. Portable music device 112 can then activate thecellular data network communication circuit 327 and/or satellite datanetwork communication circuit (not shown) to update the data records onthe cloud services for power tool 108 and/or battery pack 108B, whichcould then be seen on computer 300, local server 101, central server103, and/or smartphone 111, etc.

Portable music device 112 can also wirelessly contact and poll allnearby responsive items, including smartphone 111, tags 107, power tool108, battery pack 108B, wearable item 109 and/or construction material110. Portable music device 112 can then activate the cellular datanetwork communication circuit 327 and/or satellite data networkcommunication circuit (not shown) to report all the responsive itemslocated nearby, which can then be seen on the computer 300, centralserver 103 and/or smartphone 111. Persons skilled in the art shallrecognize that, if portable music device 112 has a Global PositioningSystem (GPS) module 315, portable music device 112 can provide such datawhen reporting the nearby located items, or in response to a query fromthe computer 300, central server 103 and/or smartphone 111, etc.

Persons skilled in the art shall recognize that having access to the GPSinformation is advantageous as such information effectively provides theapproximate location of nearby power tools 108, battery packs 108B,wearable items 109 and/or construction materials 110, etc. With sucharrangement, the user can program a geographic region via a smartphone111, central server 103 or computer 300 so that, when the approximatelocation of a nearby power tool 108, battery pack 108B, wearable item109 and/or construction material 110, etc. according to the GPSinformation is within or without the geographic region, a specificaction occurs.

For example, the user may program an alarm when a wearable item 109 iswithin a particular geographic region, will be activated, sound an alarmand/or shut down. Similarly, the user may program that, when a batterypack 108B is outside a particular geographic region, the battery pack108B will be activated, sound an alarm and/or shut down. Preferably, theuser can access a map, define the geographic region by defining theboundaries of the region (possibly by drawing a square on the screen orinputting particular coordinates), selecting the item to monitor, and aresulting action when the item is within or without the geographicregion.

Portable music system 112 may have an operating system 314 app thatimplements the steps shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4 . A user may beginthe program at step 1300 by, for example, pressing the talk button 120and/or speaking a request. In response to such selection, portable musicdevice 112 may offer several process choices for the user to select(step 1305). These process choices may include shopping for tools orrelated products (step 1310), obtaining service information (step 1320),refer to construction reference materials (step 1330), or connect tonearby power tools or products (step 1340).

For example, if the user selects the shopping process (step 1310),portable music device 112 may communicate with a server via the internet(step 1315) that would provide the user information on the differentavailable products, as well as allow the user to shop online for suchproducts. Persons skilled in the art may recognize that the portablemusic device 112 may use GPS or cell-location data to identify theclosest stores carrying the desired products.

If the user selects the service process (step 1320), portable musicdevice 112 may communicate with a server via the Internet (step 1324)that provides the user information on the different available services,including the closest repair/service center, contact information, etc.Persons skilled in the art may recognize that the portable music device112 may use GPS or cell-location data to identify the closestrepair/service center. The user can then call or email therepair/service center (step 1328) to schedule an appointment. Personsskilled in the art are further referred to U.S. Publication No.2013/0159038, filed on Dec. 11, 2012, entitled “System and Method forInteracting With Customer,” which is fully incorporated herein byreference, for further details on the service process.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that portable music device 112may transmit data to the repair/service center about power tool batterypack 108B, power tool 108, etc., such as cycle numbers, clutchactivation count, current draw profiles, and other usage data. Such datacan be obtained by the portable music device 112 querying battery pack108B, power tool 108, etc., then receiving the data from the batterypack 108B, power tool 108, etc., and then transmitting the data to therepair/service center.

Similarly, portable music device 112 can transmit such data to otherdestinations, such as a supervisor's computing device, to alert thesupervisor of a user's use or abuse of a battery pack 108B, power tool108, etc. Such data can be used to monitor the user's productivity.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that the portable music device112 could be used to record noises originating from power tool 108 andsend those noises to the repair/service center for diagnosis of thepower tool 108. The app could also analyze the noises and provide sometroubleshooting advice for power tool 108.

If the user selects the reference process (step 1330), the app wouldaccess data stored in memory or stored in the internet (step 1334).Persons skilled in the art will recognize that the memory could bewithin or without portable music device 112. Such data could includereference materials, such as handbooks on different constructiontechniques, the different construction codes, such as the InternationalBuilding Code, the International Residential Code, the InternationalPlumbing Code, etc., as well as computer-aided design (CAD) data and/orbuilding information modeling (BIM) data models of the worksite. Thedata could also include other executable routines, like calculator codefor converting measurements between different units (e.g., convertingfeet to meters), calculating stair rise run, baluster spacing, roofpitches, HVAC calculations, etc., as well as different cost estimationtools, landscaping tools, etc.

The user can also choose to connect/pair to nearby power tools, batterypacks or other products (step 1340). If such process is selected,portable music device 112 would proceed to wirelessly contact all nearbypower tools, battery packs and other products (step 1342). Once contacthas been made, portable music device 112 would display a list of nearbypower tools, battery pack and other products (step 1344).

It may be preferable to color-code the different listed power tools,battery pack and other products. For example, tools that are owned (orpaired) with the user can be shown in green. Tools that can't becontacted or accessed by the user can be shown in red. Tools that areowned by colleagues or a group are shown in yellow. Tools that have notbeen associated with a particular user can be shown in white.

Similarly, persons skilled in the art will recognize that portable musicdevice 112 may show a list of previously-paired power tools, power toolbattery packs and other products, and show the ones that are nearby inone color, while showing the others in another color. In this manner,the user will know which power tools, power tool battery packs and otherproducts are within a certain radius, thus conducting a quick inventorycheck.

The user can then select a particular power tool, battery pack or otheritem (step 1346). Once a particular item is selected, portable musicdevice 112 can display different attributes for such product for review.For example, in the case of battery pack 108, some of the attributes caninclude an identifying name (e.g., “Danny's Pack 1”), a picture icon,device model, the charge status, password (for accessing the toolinformation through another user's phone), temperature, number of chargecycles, etc. Persons skilled in the art will recognize that thisinformation is kept in a memory within the item, which is thentransmitted to portable music device 112, possibly upon a direct requestfrom portable music device 112.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that some of the attributescan be modified. For example, the identifying name and the picture iconcan be modified by the user by selecting a modification process (steps1347, 1348) and inputting the new information. This data can then bewirelessly transmitted to the power tool 108 or other item for storagewithin a memory (not shown). Persons skilled in the art will recognizethat the user can input the new information (as well as other commands,etc.) via a keyboard or touchscreen 112T in portable music device 112and/or by giving verbal commands which are recognized by the portablemusic device 112.

In addition to modifying data related to the identification of thebattery pack 108B, for example, a user can modify data related to theperformance of battery pack 108B via portable music device 112. Forexample, the user may want to change a temperature threshold at whichbattery pack 108B cut offs output power. In other words, rather thancutting off power when the battery pack 108B has a temperature of 100°,the user may wish to change the cut off temperature to 110°.

To do so, the user may verbally input the desired cut off temperatureinto portable music device 112. Portable music device 112 wirelesslysends that data to battery pack 108B.

The user may also request the portable music device 112 to announce whenthe associated battery pack 108B is at full charge. This announcementcan be communicated via sound emitted by the portable music device 112and/or by flashing LED(s) 112L and/or showing a message on display 112D.

Similarly, the user can request portable music device 112 to announcewhen battery pack 108B is near discharge, when it is hot, etc. Personsskilled in the art will recognize that this can be accomplished byportable music device 112 querying battery pack 108B. Such data can thenbe transmitted to portable music device 112 for display and/orannouncement. This announcement can be communicated via sound emitted bythe portable music device 112 and/or by flashing LED(s) 112L and/orshowing a message on display 112D.

The user can also request portable music device 112 to disable and/orenable) the power tool 108 and/or battery pack 108B via portable musicdevice 112. Persons skilled in the art will recognize that this can beaccomplished by portable music device 112 sending an enabling/disablinginstruction to power tool 108 and/or battery pack 108B. Persons skilledin the art will recognize that this could effectively function as aremote on/off switch (step 1361).

Similarly, a power tool 108 and/or chargers 210 may also be contactedvia portable music device 112. For example, power tool 108 can storetool usage patterns, tool conditions, etc., which can be transmitted toportable music device 112 and to a server for further analysis, etc. Asdisclosed above, portable music device 112 can display such information.For example, portable music device 112 can display the speed (rpm),bevel angles, miter angles, brush wear, the presence or condition of aguard and/or attachment, etc. of the power tool 108.

Like battery pack 108B, power tool 108 may effectively be programmed tochange different attributes or features. For example, a user can set themaximum motor speed or power, or provide a predetermined output (such ashalf the motor speed or power) when not within the vicinity of portablemusic device 112, etc. Similarly, it may be desirable to control anyadjustable feature in a power tool 108B via portable music device 112.For example, the portable music device 112 may adjust output pressure incompressors, the amount of grease outputted by a grease gun when thetrigger is pulled (persons skilled in the art will recognize thatportable music device 112 can set a grease gun's pump to run for X pumpcycles whenever the trigger is pulled; the higher the number of pumpcycles per trigger pull, the larger the amount of grease outputted), thespeed of a flywheel-based nailer (such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 7,137,541, which is wholly incorporated herein by reference) inorder to adjust for a different nail size or material in which the nailis being driven into, or a desired temperature for a heated jacket (suchas the one disclosed in US Publication No. 2011/0108538, which is whollyincorporated herein by reference). Such data can be transmitted byportable music device 112 to power tool 108. The user may be required topress a button and/or pull a trigger on power tool 108 prior to alteringor enacting the desired parameter.

The user can also enable and disable different modes of operation, suchas allowing/not allowing power tool 108 to rotate in a reversedirection. As mentioned above, the user can enter such commands viabuttons 112K or touchscreen 112T on portable music device 112 and/or byproviding verbal commands recognized by portable music device 112.

Portable music device 112 may also be used to modify the differenttrigger profiles of power tool 108 as described in US Publication No.2011/02544272, filed on Apr. 7, 2011, entitled “Power Tool Having aNon-Linear Trigger-Speed Profile,” which is hereby fully incorporated byreference. A user can use portable music device 112 to select betweenthe different trigger profiles applicable to power tool 108. Such datawould be sent to power tool 108, which would then save this instructionin a memory (not shown).

Other customizable features on power tools and other products mayinclude the blink patterns of LEDs, the time period that an LED remainson after releasing a trigger switch, and/or audio beeping patterns forparticular conditions in products with speakers or piezos, etc. Theportable music device 112 can also turn on and off the power tool 108 oraccessories thereof like a dust collector, open/close gates therein,etc.

If the power tool 108 has servos that can be used to adjust differentfeatures of power tool 108 (such as the miter saw disclosed in US PatentPublication No. 2001/0000856, filed on Jan. 5, 2001, and whollyincorporated herein by reference), the portable music device 112 can beused to adjust the different features by controlling the servos. Forexample, the user can request a bevel angle on the portable music device112 and the portable music device 112 will control the bevel angle servoto the desired location. In this manner, the user can program a list ofdesired workpieces, i.e., a cut list, and the app can control the mitersaw/power tool 108 to obtain those cuts. Similarly, the servos can beused to adjust the stroke length in a saw that allows for suchadjustment, such as in reciprocating saws or jigsaws.

It may be beneficial to provide servos to perform functions that aredifficult to do, like opening a blade clamp on a grinder or a recip saw.Rather than requiring the user to torque open a blade clamp, the userwould request such operation from the portable music device 112.

Furthermore, a user can also use portable music device 112 to locate theselected power tool 108, battery pack 108B or other product (step 1349).Portable music device 112 can send a command the selected power tool108, battery pack 108B or other product to start emitting a sound and/orlight up or flash an LED.

It is also possible to have the portable music device 112 poll allnearby battery packs 108B for a particular state. Thus portable musicdevice 112 can determine the battery pack 108B with the highest/lowestcharge, highest/lowest temperature, most charge cycles, etc., then senda command to the corresponding battery pack 108 to start emitting asound.

The user can request portable music device 112 to monitor the batterypack 108B and/or power tool 108 (step 1360). During this monitoringprocess, the portable music device 112 can keep track of power toolusage, present current draw, data received from sensors in the powertool 108 (for example pressure sensors disposed within the power tool108), etc. and store and/or use that information for analysis by aservice department. In this manner, the service department can determinewhether a power tool 108 has been abused.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that the user can requestportable music device 112 to monitor all nearby items, such as batterypacks 108B and/or power tools 108. The user can then press a button onbattery packs 108B and/or power tools 108 and/or pull a trigger on powertool 108. Portable music device 112 can then identify the particularbattery pack 108B and/or power tool 108 by announcing “Danny's pack 001has been activated”). The user can request portable music device 112 tomonitor that particular item.

The portable music device 112 can use the monitored information tobetter utilize the power tool 108. For example, the portable musicdevice 112 can receive PWM, voltage and/or current draw information frombattery pack 108B and/or power tool 108 and establish a macro that wouldallow the user to repeat the current draw. Persons skilled in the artwill recognize that such current draw profile can represent a torquecurve for driving a fastener into a surface. Having a repeatable drawprofile will allow the user to easily set a custom torque setting.

Portable music device 112 can monitor a particular parameter during anoperation to determine whether an operation was successful. For example,portable music device 112 can monitor the motor current draw in powertool 108 during a crimping operation, as described in US Publication No.2018/01311151, which is hereby fully incorporated by reference. If acrimp operation is not completed properly, portable music device 112 canannounce that the crimp operation was not properly completed.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that portable music device 112can be used as a gateway for forwarding data and/or audio (step 1370).For example, portable music device 112 may be used as a VOIP terminal,sending audio data to the internet 102. Similarly, a user may requestportable music device 112 to send an email or text message to a personor terminal. Such request would be interpreted by support service server302 and acted upon accordingly.

It will be understood that the above description and the drawings areexamples of particular implementations of the invention, but that otherimplementations of the invention are included in the scope of theclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A first electronic device, comprising: at leastone microphone; at least one speaker; one or more processors; a powertool battery pack connectable to and powering the at least one speakerand the one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable mediastoring instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:causing the first electronic device to operate in a first mode;generating, while the first electronic device is operating in the firstmode, first audio data representing user speech captured by the at leastone microphone; causing the first audio data to be analyzed; determiningthat the first electronic device is communicatively coupled to a secondelectronic device; causing, based at least in part on determining thatthe first electronic device is communicatively coupled to the secondelectronic device, the first electronic device to switch from operatingin the first mode to operating in a second mode; receiving, while thefirst electronic device is operating in the second mode, second audiodata from the second electronic device; and outputting, using the atleast one speaker, audible content represented by the second audio data.2. The first electronic device of claim 1, the operations furthercomprising: determining that the first electronic device iscommunicatively coupled to one or more remote computing devices, whereincausing the first electronic device to operate in the first mode isbased at least in part on determining that the first electronic deviceis communicatively coupled to the one or more remote computing devices.3. The first electronic device of claim 1, the operations furthercomprising: determining that the first electronic device is notcommunicatively coupled to one or more remote computing devices, whereincausing the first electronic device to switch from operating in thefirst mode operating in the second mode is further based at least inpart on determining that the first electronic device is notcommunicatively coupled to the one or more remote computing devices. 4.The first electronic device of claim 1, wherein causing the first audiodata to be analyzed comprises sending the first audio data to one ormore remote computing devices, and wherein the operations furthercomprise: receiving third audio data from the one or more remotecomputing devices, wherein the third audio data is based at least inpart on the first audio data; and outputting, using the at least onespeaker, additional audible content represented by the third audio data.5. The first electronic device of claim 1, wherein causing the firstaudio data to be analyzed comprises: analyzing the first audio data toidentify one or more words within the user speech; and identifying thirdaudio data based at least in part on analyzing the first audio data, andwherein the operations further comprise outputting, using the at leastone speaker, additional audible content represented by the third audiodata.
 6. The first electronic device of claim 1, the operations furthercomprising: identifying third audio data based at least in part oncausing the first audio data to be analyzed; and sending the third audiodata to the second electronic device.
 7. The first electronic device ofclaim 1, the operations further comprising: determining that the firstelectronic device is not communicatively coupled to the secondelectronic device, wherein causing the first electronic device tooperate in the first mode is based at least in part on determining thatthe first electronic device is not communicatively coupled to the secondelectronic device.
 8. The first electronic device of claim 1, whereinthe first mode includes a voice-controlled mode where the firstelectronic device communicates with one or more remote computing devicesconfigured to analyze generated audio data; and the second mode includesa peripheral mode where the first electronic device communicates withthe additional electronic device.
 9. A method comprising: Providing afirst electronic device connectable to and powerable by a power toolbattery pack; determining that a first electronic device is operating ina first mode; while the first electronic device is operating in thefirst mode: generating first audio data representing sound captured byat least one microphone of the first electronic device; sending thefirst audio data to one or more remote computing devices; and receiving,from the one or more remote computing devices, at least one of secondaudio data or information for acquiring the second audio data;determining that the first electronic device is operating in a secondmode; receiving, while the first electronic device operating in thesecond mode, third audio data from a second electronic device; andoutputting audible content represented by the third audio data.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, further comprising: determining that the firstelectronic device is communicatively coupled to the one or more remotecomputing devices; and operating the first electronic device in thefirst mode based at least in part on determining that the firstelectronic device is communicatively coupled to the one or more remotecomputing devices.
 11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:determining that the first electronic device is not communicativelycoupled to the one or more remote computing devices; and operating thefirst electronic device in the second mode based at least in part ondetermining that the first electronic device is not communicativelycoupled to the one or more remote computing devices.
 12. The method ofclaim 9, further comprising: determining that the first electronicdevice is communicatively coupled to the second electronic device; andoperating the first electronic device in the second mode based at leastin part on determining that the first electronic device iscommunicatively coupled to the second electronic device.
 13. The methodof claim 9, further comprising sending the second audio data to at leastone of the second electronic device or a third electronic device. 14.The method of claim 9, further comprising: determining that the firstelectronic device is communicatively coupled to the one or more remotecomputing devices; operating the first electronic device in the firstmode based at least in part on determining that the first electronicdevice is communicatively coupled to the one or more remote computingdevices; at least partly after generating the first audio data,determining that the first electronic device is not communicativelycoupled to the one or more remote computing devices; and operating thefirst electronic device in the second mode based at least in part ondetermining that the first electronic device is not communicativelycoupled to the one or more remote computing devices.
 15. A firstelectronic device, comprising: a power tool battery pack connectable toand powering the one or more processors; one or more processors; and oneor more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executedby the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors toperform operations comprising: operating the first electronic device ina first mode; generating, while operating the first electronic device inthe first mode, first audio data representing user speech; determiningthat the first electronic device is not communicatively coupled to oneor more remote computing devices; causing, based at least in part ondetermining that the first electronic device is not communicativelycoupled to the one or more remote computing devices, the firstelectronic device to switch from operating in the first mode tooperating in a second mode; receiving, while operating the firstelectronic device in the second mode, second audio data from a secondelectronic device; and outputting audible content represented by thesecond audio data.
 16. The first electronic device of claim 15, theoperations further comprising: determining that the first electronicdevice is communicatively coupled to the one or more remote computingdevices, wherein operating the first electronic device in the first modeis based at least in part on determining that the first electronicdevice is communicatively coupled to the one or more remote computingdevices.
 17. The first electronic device of claim 15, the operationsfurther comprising: determining that the first electronic device iscommunicatively coupled to the second electronic device, whereinoperating the first electronic device in the second mode is furtherbased at least in part on determining that the first electronic deviceis communicatively coupled to the second electronic device.
 18. Thefirst electronic device of claim 15, the operations further comprising:sending the first audio data to the one or more remote computingdevices; receiving third audio data from the one or more remotecomputing devices based at least in part on sending the first audiodata; and sending the third audio data to the second electronic device.19. The electronic device of claim 18, the operations further comprisingoutputting audible content represented by the third audio data.
 20. Thefirst electronic device of claim 15, wherein: the first mode includes avoice-controlled mode where the first electronic device communicateswith the one or more remote computing devices configured to analyzegenerated audio data; and the second mode includes a peripheral modewhere the first electronic device communicates with the secondelectronic device.